George e



Patented Nov. 8, I898.

No'. 6l3,878.

a. E. 'DE vumz. ELEVATOR GATE.

(Application filed Oct. 4, 1897.)

(No Model.)

NORRIS PETERS ca, FHOTO-LITHO.. wuumarox, :14 c.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. DE VORE, OF LANSING, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JAMESJ. BAIRD, OF SAME PLACE.

ELEVATOR-GATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 613,878, dated November8, 1898.

' Application filed October 4, 1897. $erial No. 654,025. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. DE VoRE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Lansing, in the county of Ingham and State of Michigan, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevator- Gates, ofwhich the following is a specification, reference being had therein'tothe accompanying drawings.

It is the object of my invention to obtain an operating mechanism for.elevator-gates which,while unaffected by the continuous upward ordownward movement of the elevator car or platform past said gate, isadapted to automatically open the latter whenever said car is stoppedopposite thereto and to close it again by either the upward or downwardmovement of said car.

It is a further object of my invention to actuate the gate by a motorindependent of the movement of the car, all as more fully hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of an elevator-shaft to whichmy improvement is applied, the front wall of the shaft being brokenaway. Fig. 2 is a section at right angles to Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is ahorizontal section. Fig. 4: is a detail of the elevatorstoppingmechanism.

A is an elevator-shaft.

B is the car or platform.

0 C are the floors, and D are the gates or doors guarding the openingsinto the shaft at each floor. Each gate is provided with a motorindependent of the elevator mechanism which is adapted, when released,to open the gate. In the drawings this motor comprises the weight E,vertically slidingly secured to the rails or guideways F on one side ofthe elevator-shaft and connected to the gate by the cord or flexibleconnection E, passing over the sheaves E The weight E is normally heldin its raised position on the guides F by a latch or dog a, which isadapted to be withdrawn to release the Weight upon the stopping of thecar or platform opposite the gate. The mechanism for operating thisdog-preferably comprises a rock-shaft b, to which the dog is secured,the rock-arm c thereon connected by the roddto the gear-segment e, thelatter being in engagement with a segment 9 on the rock-shaft g, towhich is secured the operating rockarm h. This arm is arranged in aposition where it will be in the path of amovable arm 11 on theelevator-platform when said arm is in its projected position, but whenthe arm i is retracted it will pass vclearof the lever h. The arm 1 isarranged to be under control of the elevator-operator, so that wheneverthe car is to be stopped said arm may be projected,

operating the lever h, and through the connecting mechanism describedwithdrawing the dog a, which releases the weight E and allows it todescend, thereby raising the gate D. I preferably, however, connect thearm 2' directly with the mechanism for stopping the car, so that vwhenthe latter is operated to stop the car at a certain floor the gate willbe automatically opened.

In the drawings I have shown the mechanism as comprising a lever G onthe car carrying the ring or eye G, through which the starting-cable I-Ipasses, the eye G being of sufficient size to permit, when in its normalposition, of the passage therethrough of the dogs I on the cable H, butwhen the lever is moved laterally the ring will engage with the dogs andbring the car to a stop. To the lower end of the lever G is connected arod j, which is connected at its opposite end to a lever is, adapted tothrow the arm c'.

To raise the weight E and reengage it with the dog a, I provide thefollowing mechanism:

J is an arm or dog secured to the car. K is a dog on theweight E,- whichwhen the latter is in its lower position projects into the path of thedog J and will be lifted thereby. in the upward movement of the car. Atthe point at which the dog a is located the guides F, on which theweight E slide, are inclined laterally, so as to carry the dog K out ofengagement with the dog J at the same time that the weight E engageswith the dog a. In order to secure a positive engagement of the dog ctwith the weight and to allow for theslight lateral oscillation of thecar on its guides, the weight E is provided with a series of notches m,with any one of which the dog a may engage. Thus if the load on the caris in such a position as to force the latter to one side or the other ofthe guides, the weight F will only be carried to a greater or lesserheight before the dogs J and K disengage and the dog a will engage withthe notch an opposite thereto at the time of release. The dog K ispreferablypix oted on or secured to the weight to have a slight playthereon, so that when it is released by the dogJ it will drop back intoa position where the latter will completely clear it when the car passesupward or downward thereby, thus avoiding the clicking which wouldotherwise occur at each passage. L is a head slidingly secured to aguide-rail M on the side of the elevator-shaft and connected by the cordor flexible connection N passing over the sheaves N to the weight E. Ois a dog secured to the car projecting in the path of an arm L on thehead L and adapted in the downward movement of the car to carrydown saidsliding head and raise the weight E to its upper position. At its lowerend the guide-rail M is inclined laterally to disengage the dog 0 fromthe arm L at the same time the dog a engages with the weight E. Thismechanism will cause the lifting of the weight E and consequent closingby its own gravity of the gate D when the elevator-car descends from afloor at which it has stopped. The dog 0 is provided with a slight dropto permit of its clearing the arm L when disengaged therefrom, similarto the arrangement of the dog K.

In the operation of the mechanism, as already partially described,theupward or downward movement of the car without stopping will leave thegates undisturbed; but when the lever G is moved laterally to stop thecar by engaging with one of the dogs I on the cable II it will at thesame time project the arm '5 into the path of the arm 7L and in movingsaid arm will disengage the dog a from the weight E, allowing the latterto open the gate. If the car in starting again travels in an upwarddirection, the dog J will lift the weight E and reengage it with the doga. If, on the contrary, the car descends, the dog 0 will draw down thehead L and through the connection N will draw up the weight E in asimilar manner.

It will be seen that the actuation of the gate is independent of themovement of the car, although it is directly controlled thereby, themotive power for opening the gate being furnished by the weight-motor,and in closing the weight of the gate itself or other lessercounteracting weight furnishing. the power. This arrangement does awaywith an objection and danger common to most automatic gatesviz. that ifthe gate is prevented from movement through any cause, such asobstruction of its path, the operating mechanism will be broken or evenmore serious damage will be done.

I preferably provide an attachment by means of which a person on any oneof the floors may stop the elevator at that floor and open the gate.This consists in a sliding kn ob or arm P passing through the wall ofthe shaft and adapted to project a cam I into the path of the cam Q onthe lever G, which will throw said lever laterally and stop the car, atthe same time opening the gate, as before described.

In order to permit the weights E to pass freely over the guide-rails F,I preferably provide said weights with pivotal shoes 1), which engagewith the rails.

The flexible connections E and N are preferably attached to the weight Eby passing them through apertures in the weight and attaching a smallweight or dog 7' at their lower ends. This permits either of saidconnections to lift the gate without entangling the other should it beprevented from movingas, for instance, if an obstruction should preventthe closing of the gate the connection E and its weight 7 would remainin the position shown in dotted lines while the weight E was drawn up bythe connection N.

Although I have shown and described my invention as used in connectionwith raising and lowering gates, I do not wish to be limited to thisconstruction, as it is obvious that the same operating mechanism mightbe employed with other forms of gates or doors.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. The combination with the elevatorand gate therefor of a weight-motor adapted when released to open saidgate, a dog or latch for normally holding said weight from descending,means for tripping said latch upon the stopping of the car or platformopposite said gate, and means for lifting said weight and reengaging itwith said dog or latch upon either the upward or downward movement ofsaid car.

2. The combination with the elevator and gate therefor, of aweight-motor for opening said gate, a guide-rail to which the weight isslidinglysecured,a lifting-dog on the elevatorcar for raising saidweight on said guide-rail, said guide-rail having an incline at theupper end adapted to move said weight laterally to disengage it fromsaid lifting-dog, a retaining-dog for holding said weight in its raisedposition, and means for tripping said retaining-dog on the stopping ofthe car opposite said gate.

3. The combination with the elevator and gate therefor, of aweight-motor for opening said gate, a guide-rail to which the weight isslidinglysecured, alifting-dog on the elevator for raising said weightin the upward move= ment of said car, a connection for raising saidweight in the downward movement of the car comprising a guide-rail, ahead slidingly secured thereto, a flexible connection secured at one endto said head, passing over a sheave and secured at its opposite end tosaid weight; and a dog on the car for depressing said head saidguide-rails having inclined portion for disengaging said lifting anddepressing dogs when the weight is in its raised position, aretaining-dog adapted to hold the weight in its raised position, andmeans for tripping said retaining-dog upon the stopping of the caropposite said gate.

4. The combination with the elevator, the

' gate and weight-motor for operating said gate,

of a dog on the elevator-car adapted to lift the weight, a guide-rail towhich said weight is slidingly secured having an incline at its upperend adapted to shift the weight laterally to disengage it from saidlifting-dog, and a retaining-dog adapted to hold said weight atdifferent elevations on said rail, according to the point at which it isreleased from the lifting-dog, said retaining-dog being adapted to bereleased to allow said weight-motor t0 operate.

5. In an operating mechanism for an elevator-gate,the combination withthe gate and the guide-rails F having the lateral inclines of the weightE, connecting with said gate and havweight,said connections for liftingsaid weight and lifting the gate, passing through apertures in saidweight and the small weights 0 attached to said connections below saidweight.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE E. DE VORE.

Witnesses:

GEO. W. STONE, CHAs. H. CRANE.

